The clinical relevance of ESBLs has been well documented by
numerous published reports describing clinical failure with antimicrobial
agents supposed to be effective [22]. Thus, the choice of
antimicrobial agents effective against ESBL-producing organisms
is currently very limited to a few classes of antibiotics, such as carbapenems,
that are often the recommended treatment of UTIs caused
by ESBL-producing E. coli. However, carbapenemase-producing
Enterobacteriaceae are increasingly being reported and are becoming
a major clinical and public health concern in many countries
including Morocco [8]. The antimicrobial susceptibility results
show that imipenem and ertapenem remain the most effective drugs
against urinary E. coli isolates. Nevertheless, there remains a need
for continuous surveillance and judicious use of this class of antibiotics
to prevent the emergence of carbapenem-resistant E. coli
isolates in our region.